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Hello Devs, I'm actually glad on how well you've made this so far. However, there are some glaring QOL issues that I've run into that I would consider some big issues that I've run into.

(In no particular order)1. Create Content based on Selection/Pin
If I highlight a selection of text, I should be able to right-click and create a new topic, bypassing the entire selection thing. Same with a Pin, I want to be able to go right to "Create Content for this Pin" based on the name of the Pin.

2. Draw on the Map
I would love to be able to create overlays, such as circles, rectangles and such on maps. A great feature would be to draw "paths," so they can see where the NPCs are going. Same with adding text. Heck, if I could create a region, by drawing a circle or rectangle or any other shape, and then be able to link that shape to an article, it would be amazing. As it stands now, I have to create another map for every Provence.

3. Update all Articles with Mentions of this Article
If I create an Article, I want the ability to have the system scan all articles in the entire campaign with mentions of that name, and make links if I need to. Right now, I have to go back and open each article and make sure mentions are linked.

4. When I right-click and click "Create Containing Article", it should create it right there.
This is a big issue. When I'm in the Story Almanac, sometimes, I'll do a "Create Containing Article," and it will be the previous place (World/Story/Mechanics), with the correct container, but the wrong type. It should default to "Person" if I right click under a person group and "create containing article."

5. Synchronize needs to happen automatically.
The idea behind the cloud is that it is always updated. When I make a save, that edit should be queued to be added to the Cloud. This is vital for my next problem.

6. Connected players should be notified when new information has been synchronized to the Cloud, or, better yet, their Campaign should automatically update with the new information, without leaving the Realm.
This is a serious issue, that's a pretty big issue. I bought one GM license and 3 player licenses under the guise that three laptops could be at the table, I could edit my campaign, and instantly, they see the choice. However, this is more like an emailed PDF than anything. Players should never be able to view the realm when their version is old. Live updates will skyrocket this thing into the stratosphere.

7. I wish I could give information to just one player.
This is just a personal preference, but there are some other uses, such as things that one player knows over another. I love it when I'm able to give each player just a tidbit of information, and they can choose when to reveal it. Its a powerful tool, but Realm Works doesn't allow this. Its either all players see it, or no one does.

8. Where is the Key/Value Text?
I wish I could create a Key/Value Text, just because I'm OCD. I'm not talking about Tags. I'm talking: "Physical Description: An ornate grey building, this temple to Veiloaria offers respite to any worshippers and travellers."

9. Why are Keys limited to so little characters?
I found this as a problem when I'm entering dates. I would love to be able to put in Arrived (Continent Name): MM/dd/yyyy

10. For all that is HOLY, allow us to ENTER in dates.
Oh...my...jebus. Seriously, being able to enter in MM/dd/yyyy, rather than navigating *needs* to happen. The Date picker is a pain in my arse.

11. When displaying the Timeline, the article name should be second.
The Timeline *needs* to be displayed like this:
- <GAME DATE> <KEY> <ARTICLE> <ADDENDUM>

It just doesn't make sense when a bunch of articles are in the Time Line.

12. HeroLab Connectivity
For some reason, I have to replace the HeroLab file every time I want to update it. I can't just make a change in HeroLab, and press Save, and RealmWorks steals it from HeroLab.

... I think that's all the rants and ideas I have right now. Great system so far.

1. Create Content based on Selection/Pin
If I highlight a selection of text, I should be able to right-click and create a new topic, bypassing the entire selection thing. Same with a Pin, I want to be able to go right to "Create Content for this Pin" based on the name of the Pin.

This is in there. Highlight the text, press Control-Q for quick create. What you highlighted is what the name defaults to.

For pins, if you fill in the name of the pin and then select to associate content with the pin and then click on the add button from the list of topics, it will pre-fill in the name you started with on the pin. Alas, if you select "Associate content with pin" right-click menu option, it won't do this and probably should.

Last edited by davidp; March 5th, 2015 at 01:06 PM.
Reason: Further clarification

This is in there. Highlight the text, press Control-Q for quick create. What you highlighted is what the name defaults to.

For pins, if you fill in the name of the pin and then select to associate content with the pin and then click on the add button from the list of topics, it will pre-fill in the name you started with on the pin. Alas, if you select "Associate content with pin" right-click menu option, it won't do this and probably should.

I just tried this...it put in "Unnamed." Plus, I'd like to just go right to content creation, elimination of one additional step. :P

Hello Devs, I'm actually glad on how well you've made this so far. However, there are some glaring QOL issues that I've run into that I would consider some big issues that I've run into.

(In no particular order)

5. Synchronize needs to happen automatically.
The idea behind the cloud is that it is always updated. When I make a save, that edit should be queued to be added to the Cloud. This is vital for my next problem.

I ABSOLUTELY would NOT want this. I like to save often, (like constantly) and wouldnt want a save kicking off a sync, because then players might see things before im ready. If this were to be implemented, i would absolutely want it to be an option to use.

Quote:

6. Connected players should be notified when new information has been synchronized to the Cloud, or, better yet, their Campaign should automatically update with the new information, without leaving the Realm.
This is a serious issue, that's a pretty big issue. I bought one GM license and 3 player licenses under the guise that three laptops could be at the table, I could edit my campaign, and instantly, they see the choice. However, this is more like an emailed PDF than anything. Players should never be able to view the realm when their version is old. Live updates will skyrocket this thing into the stratosphere.

Performance would be my concern. If you synched things like maps, how much would it slow down players computers during games. A notification is one thing.

"You are currently behind, not viewing the latest realm".

Quote:

7. I wish I could give information to just one player.
This is just a personal preference, but there are some other uses, such as things that one player knows over another. I love it when I'm able to give each player just a tidbit of information, and they can choose when to reveal it. Its a powerful tool, but Realm Works doesn't allow this. Its either all players see it, or no one does.

Thats always been planned. They just need to implement it.

Quote:

12. HeroLab Connectivity
For some reason, I have to replace the HeroLab file every time I want to update it. I can't just make a change in HeroLab, and press Save, and RealmWorks steals it from HeroLab.

Thats something i would like too, but its difficult, from what i understand. RW is a database, and HL are flatfiles... they could have had it point to the external files, but if you think about the logical conclusions of that, it could cause synching issues if you didnt have the same directory structure on other computers...

I ABSOLUTELY would NOT want this. I like to save often, (like constantly) and wouldnt want a save kicking off a sync, because then players might see things before im ready. If this were to be implemented, i would absolutely want it to be an option to use.

That's why things default to "not shown." You click the green icon to make it shown. I want them to be able to see things as soon as I hit the save button, so that way there's no lag time. Right now, you have to exit, sync, then come back in order to view the changes, which make it a severe pain.

If anything, we could have a "don't sync" option, which prevents auto-sync. I'd just appreciate it if the system was always syncing to everyone connected at the moment.

Quote:

Performance would be my concern. If you synched things like maps, how much would it slow down players computers during games. A notification is one thing.

"You are currently behind, not viewing the latest realm".

Sending a couple of kilobytes every now and then won't hurt your computer, or your internet connection.

Quote:

Thats something i would like too, but its difficult, from what i understand. RW is a database, and HL are flatfiles... they could have had it point to the external files, but if you think about the logical conclusions of that, it could cause synching issues if you didnt have the same directory structure on other computers...

Well, the problem I had was that I can't click save. If I click "Open" on RealmWorks, if I click Save on HeroLab, it complains that the file is read only, and nothing saves in RealmWorks. All I want is for it to replace the file with the edited file.

Sending a couple of kilobytes every now and then won't hurt your computer, or your internet connection.

You're not considering if I do any work on maps, and am not ready to reveal. megs of data. But if its an option (whether its on by default or off by default doesnt matter) but it should be configured at the Realm Level. Its important to remember that not everyone's workflow is the same. For me, there are absolute advantages to keeping a published database and a working database (non published/non synced) and even you have a point about viewing, I can, and often do publish basic info, and then have that revealed and then update the tags and dont hide something already revealed but arent ready to publish. Thats my workflow.

You're not considering if I do any work on maps, and am not ready to reveal. megs of data. But if its an option (whether its on by default or off by default doesnt matter) but it should be configured at the Realm Level. Its important to remember that not everyone's workflow is the same. For me, there are absolute advantages to keeping a published database and a working database (non published/non synced) and even you have a point about viewing, I can, and often do publish basic info, and then have that revealed and then update the tags and dont hide something already revealed but arent ready to publish. Thats my workflow.

Well, if you're talking about adding in a map, yeah, that's a few megs. But, the reveal data is a couple of kilobytes at most. If its more than that, something could be refactored to make the database smaller. Even adding one pin should just be a kilobyte or three. If you're working on the same map, generally, an update shouldn't be too intensive on the synchronization.

Yeah, my plan is, once the game starts flowing is that I will have entire articles with true, untrue and partially true information. If they reveal it, I click it, and they can see it when I sync next. I just wish that they could browse it immediately, while I'm playing. It gives them a way of "looking back at notes," without them asking for me to go to a certain topic on the big screen.

RE: Editing POR: What am I missing here? I don't see that button. I only see "View," no Edit buttons.

Well, if you're talking about adding in a map, yeah, that's a few megs. But, the reveal data is a couple of kilobytes at most. If its more than that, something could be refactored to make the database smaller. Even adding one pin should just be a kilobyte or three. If you're working on the same map, generally, an update shouldn't be too intensive on the synchronization.

Yeah, my plan is, once the game starts flowing is that I will have entire articles with true, untrue and partially true information. If they reveal it, I click it, and they can see it when I sync next. I just wish that they could browse it immediately, while I'm playing. It gives them a way of "looking back at notes," without them asking for me to go to a certain topic on the big screen.

At this point we're arguing for no purpose. I'm just saying you need to consider other peoples workflows before doing something like an auto-sync. For me it would cause issues. Even if its not just about the player. There are other workflow reasons to not auto publish as well. (and its not just about reveals). If there were an option to enable or disable it, then it doesnt matter.

But as for the other things, constant saves, even if its only a couple of KB, it COULD be a performance concern if enough people are doing it. And im not talking performance on your end, or performance on your players end. You have to consider the system as a whole. A lot of it could in theory depend on how the website is going to handle syncs. Is it going to be based on browser fresh, or a more modern technology allowing push data (like angular/node). Whenever dealing with infrastructure like this, there are always lots of things to consider.

So the real question is when doing something like this: cost/benefits.

Do the benefits of auto sync outweight the costs? Possibly. We know the benefits, but not really. (how many people would use it... are they more like you, or more like me?) Dont know the costs either.

Now I would like a notification system so that when I publish, all my players are aware of it.

As for the HL thing- I will let Shadow respond. My windows machine has been down for a few days, so im rebuilding so dont have RW in front of me (which is why i was probably giving misinformation - again, sorry about that)

RE: Editing POR: What am I missing here? I don't see that button. I only see "View," no Edit buttons.

Click Edit first. The Topic/Article needs to be in Edit mode to show that button.

ObTopic:
1. Is there as mentioned (Ctrl-Q for Quick Create), though it'd be nice to have it in the Context Menu as well.
2. I haven't done much mapping yet. Other threads on this theme I found by searching this forum for "region": Overlays for Smart Images, An alternative to pins on maps. There's probably more if you do more searches.
3. Already in the works.
4. Yeah, they chose to remember the last set of settings instead. (Create Contained Topic/Article is Quick Create.)
5, 6. I'd rather not, personally, but then again I work offline most of the time. There's a bunch of syncing improvements on their radar.
7. Already in the works. ("Individual Character Reveal" is what folks call it.)
8. Do you mean a Text Snippet with a label? We've gone around on that one before: Text with title.
9. Define your own Category and they can be longer. Otherwise, this belongs in its own request thread.
10. The Gregorian Calendar is defined using RW's custom calendar functionality and it needs a bunch of UI work. They've acknowledged this.
11. They should probably be switchable, much like many other multicolumn listboxes in Windows.